Life Coaching Lesson from the Olympics

Joannie Rochette a Canadian six-time figure skating champion and bronze medalist in the Olympics made history. She was the first Canadian woman to win a figure skating medal in twenty-two years. It is quite an accomplishment.


Above and beyond that, she had to do it while in the midst of a personal tragedy and stay focused. He mother died suddenly a few days before her participation and she had to make the difficult choice to either stop competing or go forward. She chose the latter and did what she knew her mother would have wanted.

Isn't this what we all must do in our everyday lives? But do we do it? No.

All too often we stop moving and become stagnant in grief, in fear, in poverty, in relationships, in health, and in life in general. We become paralyzed.

When dealing with the human body, whenever there is a blockage that prevents the flow of blood, bile, urine (or anything else that should be moving), trouble sets in and we get sick. The same principle applies to our lives in general. Our minds and bodies were meant to be moving forward and achieving all of the time.

There is a time for quiet, rest, and solitude but not at the expense of forward progress. Ms. Rochette's mother knew this principle and taught her daughter it very well. Now Joannie will mourn her mother with her bronze medal in hand. It will never replace her but it will validate her mother's legacy. Her mom is smiling all of the way.

Take a page out of the Rochette playbook. Keep moving. Love those who love you and even some of those who don't. As long as you are moving forward, you have nothing to fear.